Toy flight simulator and control tower system

ABSTRACT

A TOY FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CONTROL TOWER SYSTEM, INCLUDING A GUIDELINE ANCHORED AT ONE END AND CONTROLLED AT THE OTHER END, AN AIRPLANE MOVABLE ALONG THE GUIDELINE, A LANDING STRIP AND A CONTROL TOWER. THE CONTROL TOWER INCLUDES A POSITION INDICATOR WHICH IS CONNECTED TO THE GUIDELINE TO INDICATE TO THE OPERATOR THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE AIRPLANE AS IT DESCENDS THE GUIDELINE. HEIGHT IS INDICATED IN TWO SEPARATE MANNERS, WHILE LATERAL POSITION IS INDICATED IN ONE MANNER. THE SYSTEM MAY BE DISASSEMBLED FOR EASE IN PACKAGING AND IS RUGGED YET INEXPENSIVE.   D R A W I N G

TOY FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CONTROL TOWER SYSTEM Filed Jan. 20, 1971 Feb. 20, 1973 v, os Y ET AL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 r 4 x l r 5 y mwmz w r. K v m m M0 m 5. 2 5 m ww wazm r 4 4 Z? m n ppmfinm/ F TOY FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CONTROL TOWER SYSTEM I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 D. V- BOSLEY ET AL Feb. 20, 1973 Filed Jan. 20, 1971 l/YVi/Vfdlj 05w: K 8051:) P401 /P (a new ram/S 540/0 5071 IffdI/VE/ Feb. 20, 1973 D. v. BOSLEY ET AL 3,716,940

TOY FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CONTROL TOWER SYSTEM Filed Jan. 20, 1971 5 Sheets-Sneet :5

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,30 Pl M 0 1-. ez/x4e United States Patent 3,716,940 TOY FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND CONTROL TOWER SYSTEM Denis V. Bosley, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Philip W. Crain, Redondo Beach, Raymond J. Douglas, Lomita, Bernard Loomis, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Floyd E. Schlau, Palos Verdes Estates, and William A. Staats, Torrance, Calif., assignors to Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

Filed Jan. 20, 1971. Ser. No. 107,907 Int. Cl. A63h 27/04 US. Cl. 46-77 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy flight simulator and control tower system, includ ing a guideline anchored at one end and controlled at the other end, anfairplane movable along the guideline, a landing strip and a control tower. The control tower includes a position indicator which is connected to the guideline to indicate to the operator the relative position of the airplane as it descends the guideline. Height is indicated in two separate manners, while lateral position is indicated in one manner. The system may be disassembled for ease in packaging and is rugged yet inexpensive.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a toy system and, more particularly, to a flight toy system, including a simulated airport control tower with an airplane position indicator, a landing strip, a controlled guideline, and an airplane. The system is inexpensive to manufacture and package, easy to assemble and disassemble and easy to manipulate so as to provide hours of exciting play.

Description of the prior art The prior art is replete with toy airplanes of various forms. For example, the prior art includes model airplanes, airplanes with small gasoline engines, airplanes which move along string, such as kite string, and airplanes which move along track systems. None of the prior art simulate flight in a realistic fashion nor provide a toy which can be easily manipulated so that small children may participate. In some cases, the prior art airplane toys were overly complicated and thereby expensive or were fragile so as to be impractical.

None of the prior art toy airplanes ever reached outstanding commercial success, so that none were ever mass marketed. To be marketed at a reasonable price, it is imperative that the toy be inexpensively manufactured and packaged, and yet, be rugged and exciting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the problems in the prior art by providing a toy flight system comprising a toy control tower being easily assembled and disassembled and including a position indicator housing; a guideline anchored at one end and controlled at the other end; and a toy airplane movable along the guideline. In more detail, the invention includes the toy control tower comprising a position indicator housing; a plurality of vertical support members; a base for supporting the indicator housing and having openings to receive the vertical support members; a plurality of platforms having recesses for receiving the vertical support members; and a simulated control deck removably mountable to the support members and position indicator housing. Further, the toy position indicator comprises a housing; means connected to the housing for displaying the relative position of a movable toy vehicle; and means connected to the housing and the toy vehicle for moving in response to the position of the toy vehicle and for cooperating with the displaying means to indicate the position of the toy vehicle.

It is the general aim of the present invention to provide a toy system which is exciting and yet easily manipulated by a small child and is inexpensive to manufacture and package so as to be available for mass marketing.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a toy control tower which is ruggedly constructed, easily assembled and disassembled and designed to indicate the position of a movable toy airplane.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy position indicator which reliably provides information on the position of the toy airplane and yet is simply constructed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy flight system, including a control tower, a landing strip, a guideline and a toy airplane.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevational view of the control tower in an assembled position and illustrating one range of positions of a portion of the toy position indicator.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional side elevational view of the control tower.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the toy flight position indicator mechanism.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view, partly diagrammatic, of the toy position indicator.

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the control tower in its disassembled position suitable for packaging.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While the present invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, an illustrative embodiment is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not the intention to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed; but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, eqiuivalents and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a flight toy system 10, including a control tower 12, a guideline 14, a landing strip 16 and a toy airplane 18. The guideline 14 is anchored at one end portion 20 about a leg 22 of a table (not shown) by a flexible connector 21, while the opposite end portion 23 is connected to a control device 24 which may be hand held. The airplane 18 is suspended from the guideline 14 by a hanger 26 and is adapted to move along the guideline due to gravity from the end portion 23 toward the end portion 20. The guideline 14, the flexible connector 21, the control device 24, the airplane 18 and the hanger 26 are more fully described in a copending application assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

The basic operation of the present system includes assembling the tower to the position shown, connecting the guideline 14 about the table leg 22, positioning the landing strip 16, as illustrated, holding the control device 24 at a handle portion 27 and mounting the airplane to a platform portion 28, -while suspending the airplane from the guideline. The guideline is also connected to the control tower as will be more fully explained hereinbelow so that as the airplane descends the guideline, an indication of its position appears on a position indicator portion 30 of the control tower, providing information to an operator of the control device, so that the operator can guide the airplane to a landing upon the landing strip.

In accordance with a major aspect of the present invention, a control tower is provided which is easily assembled and disassembled and yet is rugged in construction so as to withstand normal abuse given toys by children. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the control tower 12 includes a base 32 having four legs 34 and 36, FIG. 2, 38, FIG. 3, and 40, FIG. 1. The base includes an upper platform portion 42 having openings for removably receiving vertical support members; for example, openings 44 receives a support member 48 which is parallel to a second support member 46. Spaced at intervals above the upper platform portion 42 of the base are three removable platforms 50, 52 and 54 which are supported by the position indicator portion 30 within mounting 51, 53 and 55, respectively, and the two support members 46 and 48. Each of the platforms includes recesses to receive the support members, such as the platform 50, FIG. 1. Mounted atop the position indicator portion and the vertical support members is a simulated control deck 58, including such features as a heliport 60, FIG. 1, air conditioning ducts 62 and a card 63, FIG. 3, having a drawing of instruments and personnel (not shown) to give the control tower a more realistic appearance, especially in the eyes of a child.

The design of the control tower has been made to simulate a real control tower, while providing a toy with relatively few individual parts so as to be easily assembled to the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Referring now to FIG. 7, the tower is illustrated in its disassembled position and collected to illustrate the tower ready for packaging. This minimum volume provides for reasonable packaging at a minimum cost. Because the tower may be disassembled, it may be easily stored when not in use. Briefly, the packaging position finds the simulated control deck 58 inverted from the assembled position with the three platforms 50, 52 and 54 placed upon the control deck. The indicator portion 30 and the two vertical support members 48 and 50 (not shown in FIG. 7) are positioned across the platforms. Positioned about the just mentioned elements is the base 32.

It is to be noted that, if desired, the control tower may be made rigid, that is, not having the ability to be disassembled. The control tower will still function, 'as will be explained hereinbelow, to provide realism as well as a support for the position indicator portion 30.

Another important aspect of the present invention is to provide a position indicator which reliably tells the position of the airplane as it approaches the control tower, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which provides a degree of excitement and challenge to the toy system. Referring to FIG. 5, the position indicator mechanism includes an elongated movable link 70 having two laterally projecting appendages 72 and 74 which are extending perpendicular to the link 70. One end 76 of the link is flattened and includes an opening 78 for receiving a shaft 80 of a support member 82. A mirrored surface 84, more clearly shown in FIG. 4, is deposited on another portion of the support member. The support member 82 has two sleeves 86 and 88 for receiving pins 90 and 92, respectively, which are integral with a light shield 94. The light shield is essentially a plate with a rectangularly-shaped opening 96 to allow light from a light source, such as the bulb 97, FIG. 3, to be reflected from the mirrored surface, restricted by the light shield and passed through an adjacent sheet of light transmitting material 98 which is divided into three indexing regions 100, 102 and 104. The intensity of the light is increased by the use of a reflector 103, while the same light source is used to light the control deck by the use of two mirrors, though only one of which designated 105 is shown. Positioned adjacent the extending appendages 72 and 74 of the link is a transparent sheet of material 106. The transparent sheet includes two vertical index markings 108 and 110 and two 4 horizontal index markings 1'12 and 114. Referring again to FIG. 2, the other end 116 of the link 70 includes an opening 118 to receive the guideline 14.

As is shown more clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the position indicator includes an outer housing 120 to which is connected the light transmitting sheet 98 and the light transparent sheet 106. The housing also includes side brackets, such as the side brackets 122 and 122a, each having a peripheral recess, such as the recesses 124 and 124a, respectively. The light shield 94 is retained by having peripheral edge portions 126 and 128 slideable between the recesses and flanges 130 and 132 of the housing. Thus, the light shield is constrained to be slideable relative to the housing in a vertical direction, as viewed in FIG. 3; the sliding of the light shield is in response to the position of the toy airplane on the guideline as reflected by the position of the guideline through the opening 118 of the link 70, FIG. 2. If the guideline 14, FIG. 1, is moved upwardly by moving the control device 24 in an upward direction, a force will be exerted upwardly upon the link which in turn will transmit the force to the shaft and thence to the pins and 92 causing an upward movement of the shield 94, the sup port member 82 and the link. Since the opening 78 receives the shaft 80 so as to allow the link to pivot about the shaft, any lateral force provided by the guideline on the link will cause the link to move as illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 2.

The light bulb 97 is mounted to the simulated control deck 58 the control deck has an opening 131 allowing the light to be directed along a path depicted by the line 136 downwardly to the mirrored surface 84 and thence reflected through the opening 96 so as to pass through the sheet 98. Referring to FIG. 6, the position indicator mechanism is illustrated in somewhat diagrammatic form showing the bulb 97 in electrical contact with a battery 140 and an on-oif switch 142. Referring to FIG. 3, the battery and switch are illustrated in actual form and designated by the same numbers as in FIG. 6.

The three regions 100, 102 and 104, FIGS. 5 and 6, into which the sheet 98 is divided provide a display for the operator indicating where the guideline (and thereby the airplane) is vertically situated relative the regions. The regions act as an index. In the situation where the airplane is too high, the opening of the light shield will align behind the upper region so as to direct light through the region 100. If the airplane is too low, light will be directed through the region 104 since the opening 96 will align behind the lower region 104. When the airplane is at a correct height, light will be directed through the middle region 102. This provides an emphasized indication using light of the relative height of the incoming airplane.

Referring now to the appendages 72 and 74 of the link, it is noted their position also indicates the relative height of the airplane as well as the relative lateral position of the airplane. When the appendages are above the horizontal markings 112 and 114 of the sheet 106, the airplane is too high; if the appendages are below the horizontal markings, the airplane is too low. When the appendages align with the horizontal markings, the airplane is at the correct height. The three height positions of the appendages are shown in FIG. 6. Thus, the operator is given two visual displays of the relative height of the airplane. The link indicates whether the airplane is aligned laterally by the operator making a comparison of the position of the link and the verticalmarkings 108 and 110. As shown in FIG. 2 in phantom line, the link can pivot to the left or to the right of the vertical marking-s thereby indicating a misalignment of the aircraft. In this manner, theoperator by aligning the airplane according to the position of the light when viewing the sheet 98 or the position of the link when viewing the sheet 106 can properly control the airplane so as to make a smooth landing upon the landing strip.

The operation of the present system would include assembling the control tower, anchoring the. ends 20 of the guideline about the table leg 22, positioning the landing strip 16 beneath the tower and extending away therefrom, attaching the guide line to the link 70 and properly mounting the airplane to the platform 28. The operator is now ready to simulate the landing of the airplane. The operator may then close the switch 142 to energize the light bulb. He may start the airplane downwardly along the guideline by dipping the platform 28, and observing the two visual indicators, the airplane may be correctly guided for a landing on the landing strip. It is to be noted that while a landing strip is shown, the plane may be similarly guided to land on a toy aircraft carrier or, a spaceship may be landed on a space station without deviating from the invention herein.

In accordance with another important objective of the present invention, the system is very inexpensively manufactured by the design of the structure, as illustrated, as well as by the choice of materials. For example, the landing strip may be polyethylene with the markings illustrated being printed thereon, the sheets 98 and 106 may be rigid polyvinyl chloride, the link 70 may be acetal copolymer, while the base 32, the platforms 50, 52 and 54, the vertical support members 46 and 48, the indicator housing 120 and the simulated control deck 58 may all be made of polystyrene. All of the synthetic resin elements may be easily molded or are provided in sheet form. It is to be noted that the control device 24 not only includes the handle portion 27 and the platform portion 28, but a reel so as to easily wind or unwind the guideline 14 and a sound-amplification mechanism (not shown) which amplifies a sound made as the airplane moves along the guideline 14. In a preferred embodiment, the guideline 14 is a filament having periodic distortions along its length so as to induce a movement which is transmitted back to the sound-amplification mechanism. The flexible connector 21 is uniquely designed to facilitate connecting the end 20 of the guideline to the table leg in a quick and easy fashion without requiring the tying of the guideline. The connector also provides a device to prevent contact of the airplane and the table leg thereby acting as a bumper so as to protect the table leg.

We claim:

1. A toy flight system comprising:

an elongated guide line having means stationarily anchoring one end thereof and having manually manipulable means fixed to its other end whereby said guide line may be held taut and its said other end may be selectively moved in any direction laterally of its length;

a toy vehicle mounted on and movable along said guide line;

a stationary structure adjacent to but spaced from said one end of said guide line;

movable position indicator means on said structure for indicating the position of said guide line; and means engaging an adjacent portion of said guide line spaced from said one end and drivingly connected to said indicator means to move the same to indicate the position of said guide line relative to a predetermined position. 2. A toy flight system comprising: an elongated guide line having means stationarily anchoring one end thereof and having manually manipulable means fixed to its other end whereby said guide line may be held taut and its said other end may be selectively moved in any direction laterally of its length; a toy vehicle mounted on and movable along said guide line; a stationary structure adjacent to but spaced from said one end of said guide line; movable position indicator means on said structure for indicating the position of said guide line; means engaging an adjacent portion of said guide line spaced from said one end and drivingly connected to said indicator means to move the same to indicate the position of said guide line relative to a predetermined position wherein the guide line slopes upwardly from said one end; said toy vehicle being a toy airplane; and means defining a simulated landing strip extending from said stationary structure beneath said guide line when the latter is in said predetermined position. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1, including a simulated landing strip comprised of a sheet of synthetic resin removably positioned beneath the guideline and extending outwardly from said stationary structure.

4. A. system as claimed in claim 1, including a flexible connector connected to said one end of said guideline for limiting movement of said toy airplane.

5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sta- 7 tionary structure comprises:

a position indicator housing;

a plurality of vertical support members;

a base for supporting said position indicator housing and having openings for removably receiving said vertical support members;

a plurality of platforms having recesses for removably receiving said vertical support members; and

a simulated control deck removably mountable to said support members and said position indicator housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,177,709 10/1939 Gibbons 4677 1,304,139 5/1919 Young 4677 1,676,989 7/1928 -McMenamin 46-77 2,285,988 6/1942 Kroll 4677 OTHER REFERENCES Playthings, p. 123: July 1964, vol. 62, No. 7.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner A. HEINZ, Assistant Examiner 

